Chris Crittenden @Chris Crittenden · 12 months ago
Starbucks annual sales is ~$40B across 37k+ stores.
At such scale, it’s very profitable to shave a few seconds off each order.
Per Bloomberg, Starbucks would make an extra ~$900m a year if each store served 5 extra patrons per day.
That’s why Starbucks is spending $450m on a new bar setup called Siren System (video below), where the key ingredients — dairy, pumps, caffeine, ice — are placed in a new optimized counter.
Take a Mocha Frappuccino:
▫️Under the existing system, it takes 16 steps and 87 seconds
▫️Under Siren System, it will be 14 steps and 36 seconds.
There are currently 383 billion potential drink combinations at Starbucks. And orders have gotten so ridiculously elaborate, that the average wait time is 5 minutes.
Why does Starbucks put up with the extra? Cause “extras” on the order are worth $1B a year.
For people like me — who just want a simple black Trenta iced coffee — it’s kinda annoying.
The Siren System will be in 40% of US stores by 2026. Can’t wait for the full rollout to more efficiently put caffeine down my skull.